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So I'm starting the wifing unit on Doctor Who

By gzt (Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 03:08:09 PM EST) gzt, yes, topographic oceans, elvis costello, chess, data mining, doctor who (all tags)

We have until the next season to get caught up, so here's the plan. I just showed her the first (Unearthly Child) and we'll continue with the first serial and The Daleks. Then we might watch the first and last episode of the next Dalek story, but the whole thing has a nonsensical plot and there isn't much worth seeing outside the first and last episodes.

And then I plan on going through and hitting up a couple serials (give or take...) for each Doctor, then watching everything with the current Doctor. That should get us prepared for the next season, whenever that starts, but it's several months from now, so there's definitely enough time to watch them at a leisurely pace.

Have a test in data mining this week. Still not sure about signing up for the free Stanford machine learning course, but it doesn't really have much of a commitment to it, so I'll probably sign up once I get home if registration is still open.

Picking up heavy things, putting them down.

Chess study is suffering lately. Mostly don't have time, esp. as I'm not doing it on the train. I've mentioned this before, but it's still going. I also haven't played in a tournament in over two months - my game last week was my first serious one since August 15th.

However, I've been plowing through novels. I'm 2/3 done with Confusion. It is quite fun.

They got a new chair to me at work. Huzzah. My old one finally lost its arms on Friday right before I left.

Seriously, I need a nap.

I cut my hair last night. It was getting shaggy and unruly. It didn't look good. I trimmed it all down to .5". Much less maintenance now. Much better than spending moneys.

I am, supposedly, very busy right now.

Some friends of mine reminded me that Yes and Elvis Costello are awesome, so I have been listening to them. The problem with both is that they turn very '80s after a while. With Yes, I probably need to stop when Anderson and Wakeman left the band. Or before Topographic Oceans.

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So I'm starting the wifing unit on Doctor Who | 27 comments (27 topical, 0 hidden)

Doctor Who by the mariner (2.00 / 0) #1 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 04:30:23 PM EST

Am I the only one who can't watch it unless David Tennant is the Doctor? The new one kind of sucks and the one before him kind of sucks too. And then there's the older Doctors who I only saw bits and pieces of when I was like ten.

I think a lot of old Doctor Who is available streaming via Netflix. Haven't checked in a while, but I would imagine it's more true now than it has been in the past.

Hmmm by Gedvondur (2.00 / 0) #3 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 04:46:26 PM EST

There's always a transition period when you deal with a change of the Doctor. Baker to Davidson was hard too. But the latest Doctor is growing on me. Sure, I liked Tennant, but you have to get used to the new ones.

"So I will be hitting the snatch hard, I think, tonight." - gzt

[ Parent ]

Baker to Davidson was hard by Herring (4.00 / 2) #4 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 05:20:48 PM EST

Because Baker was The Doctor and Davidson was rubbish.

You can't inspire people with facts
- Small Gods

[ Parent ]

Davidson is a perfectly good actor! by gzt (2.00 / 0) #6 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:01:19 PM EST

It's just that some of the writing sucked.

[ Parent ]

Irrelevant by Herring (4.00 / 3) #8 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:04:48 PM EST

He might have been a perfectly good actor but Tom Baker was Dr Who. Accept no substitutes.

You can't inspire people with facts
- Small Gods

[ Parent ]

: you make a good argume*nt*. by gzt (2.00 / 0) #9 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:07:12 PM EST

[ Parent ]

Eccleston is a quality actor by gzt (4.00 / 1) #7 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:01:26 PM EST

And I think he did a good job at conveying some of the nuances of the character. I think he had a bit more depth to it than Tennant (controlling for how much longer Tennant had the role than him).

Matt Smith has grown on me. He seems rather Tennant-y in his portrayal of the character.

I watched a lot of the old Doctor Who on Netflix a couple years ago. Since it went on for 26 years, there were a lot of high and a lot of low points, to put it charitably. I tend to blame shortcomings of any of the Doctors on the quality of the material they were dealing with. Colin Baker can't really be blamed for some of the stories he dealt with, for instance, and doubly so for Sylvester McCoy. One must either be willing to sit through the bad serials or scout out the quality ones.

[ Parent ]

(Comment Deleted) by the mariner (2.00 / 0) #10 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:25:13 PM EST

This comment has been deleted by the mariner

[ Parent ]

I've only seen bits of Matt Smith by the mariner (2.00 / 0) #11 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:29:21 PM EST

But I think there's a pretty consistent vision of the Doctor throughout the new seasons, but that Tennant just seemed particularly suited to what the directors and writers were after. The seasons with Billie Piper as Who girl and Tennant as the Doctor were the high points both in the portrayal of the characters and in the quality of the writing in my opinion (although the episode Blink was good) -- in the new series, I can't speak to the older seasons, hardly remember them.

Eccleston was okay, but one scene of his kind of stuck in my craw near the beginning of the season he was the Doctor -- I think it was in some conversation with the Dalek some military agency captured. He went on this SLC Punk style rant, complete with the weird cuts from camera to camera for emphasis, about how bad Daleks are. The free association of the Doctor and the green haired kid ranting about his dad's volkswagon resulted in a loss of moral gravity in the character to my mind, I guess. Maybe not the actor's fault, but the impression remains.

[ Parent ]

Heh, comment suppression... by the mariner (2.00 / 0) #12 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:31:57 PM EST

I always look back at the post and want to edit, but you can't, so I'm like, I know, I'll just delete it and fix it. But then there's the deleted comment thing. Bah.

Speaking of site mechanics, is trusted user status now required for reading "The Hole" entries?

[ Parent ]

: You have to have been a member for a time by gzt (2.00 / 0) #14 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 07:14:29 PM EST

Not sure how long a time.
I had nearly forgotten about that scene. Yeah, that kind of blew.

[ Parent ]
: No. by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #16 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 07:18:16 PM EST

"To this day that was the most bullshit caesar salad I have every experienced..." - triggerfinger
[ Parent ]

Yes but by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #22 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 02:00:50 PM EST

...technically Eccleston was playing a shell- shocked Doctor who had eliminated the Daleks at the cost of taking out his fellow Time Lords, so his acting was in context....

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL

[ Parent ]

Tennant is excellent but.... by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #13 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 06:42:36 PM EST

...Ecclestone did the spadework of rescuing Doctor Who and erasing the memories of Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Peter Davison.

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL

[ Parent ]

and mcgann. by gzt (2.00 / 0) #15 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 07:16:36 PM EST

always forget mcgann.

[ Parent ]

: Good advice by Scrymarch (2.00 / 0) #27 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 09:41:32 PM EST

_{Iambic Web Certified}
[ Parent ]

Blashpehmy by Gedvondur (4.00 / 1) #2 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 04:44:34 PM EST

My two favorite Yes albums are 90125 and Big Generator. Expressly because they are not like the more-of-the-same past Yes albums.

"So I will be hitting the snatch hard, I think, tonight." - gzt

: crap, i nearly forgot those by gzt (4.00 / 1) #5 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 05:40:07 PM EST

they get an asterisk.

[ Parent ]

The Emissary frowns on your shenanigans. by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #17 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 07:24:54 PM EST

"To this day that was the most bullshit caesar salad I have every experienced..." - triggerfinger

Do you strap her into some kind of by Del Griffith (2.00 / 0) #18 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 08:59:34 PM EST

vogon poetry appreciation chair?

Such a bizzare sub/dom relationship you have with your 'wifing unit'... Does she make you watch sex in the city? If so then I totally understand the drwho thing..

-------
Don't sue me bro!

: she likes it by gzt (4.00 / 1) #19 Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 09:50:14 PM EST

and is interested in it.

[ Parent ]

My wifing unit does not like Doctor Who by Orion Blastar (2.00 / 0) #20 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:50:47 AM EST

but likes other Sci Fi movies and TV shows. I am not sure why.

We had Netflix but they kept jacking up the rates, had streaming errors, terrible tech support, and refused to admit to any problems on their own end. Plus I need to save the money.

We still got BBCA on Uverse. Our local PBS station always has stiffed us with promises of Doctor Who and then never delivering. I was a PBS member for a while. Doctor Who fans used to keep the fund raising drives going and even volunteered in costumes and stuff. But they screwed us, and pulled Doctor Who, Blake's Seven, Red Dwarf, Space Cops, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and other stuff. BBCA is showing the Matt Smith episodes and I recorded the last one and didn't watch it yet. I suppose The Doctor cheats death or else they would not have a show anymore. I am just not sure how yet. Been dealing with my own personal issues and no time to watch it yet.

"I drank what?" - <a href="http://uncyclopedia.co/wiki/Socrates">Socrates</a&gt after drinking the Conium

You would think in the 21st century by Del Griffith (2.00 / 0) #21 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 01:46:40 PM EST

we'd be able to purchase eppisodes directly from the BBC over the internet. But old habits die hard of old companies and megacorps.

I think they all know that 99.9% of their "content" is total crap, and if the studios were to network their own stuff it'd leave a LOT of useless eaters unemployed.

Well hell most of us are being laid off, why not them?

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Don't sue me bro!

[ Parent ]

I can purchase episodes directly by gzt (2.00 / 0) #23 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 02:25:53 PM EST

Last I checked. Not from BBC themselves, but through Itunes or Amazon. Seems sensible to me.

[ Parent ]

current season? by Del Griffith (2.00 / 0) #24 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 04:37:46 PM EST

I haven't bothered creatign a UK vlan @ home in a while.... maybe it is time again. Last time I went to pay a 'tv tax' in person they wouldn't take my GBP as I didn't have a UK address... Kind of strange for someone who needs money turning away a paying customer.

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Don't sue me bro!

[ Parent ]

I go to amazon.com... by gzt (2.00 / 0) #25 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 04:49:43 PM EST

...and I can get the Doctor Who season finale that aired a couple days ago (in HD) for $2.99. I'm in America.

[ Parent ]

: $1.99 for non-HD by gzt (4.00 / 1) #26 Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 04:53:01 PM EST

Here's a link for Americans (I presume): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005RK6EUS
Other shows might not be the same, but Doctor Who is released at the same time in America as in the Old Country, so they keep things current.

[ Parent ]

So I'm starting the wifing unit on Doctor Who | 27 comments (27 topical, 0 hidden)