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I Take Back Everything Bad I Said About 'Doctor Who'
The 13-episode "fifth series" of "Doctor Who" comes to a conclusion on Saturday night in the UK, unless you are watching it on BBC America, in which case it concludes in like July or August or something. Who knows? I am pretty sure "no one" is watching it on the American schedule. In any event, I said some harsh things about a recent episode and I would like to take it all back now. I mean, I was right, and that episode had issues, but it has since been revealed that this series is awesome. The penultimate episode was A+, and though I expect there will be no Rose Tyler end-of-story-arc style weeping instigated in the finale, this is still some solid, solid Doctor Whoing. We express our apologies, nerds!
Ah ha! I watched it last night and thought "oh man, Choire is so going to need to eat his words on this one!" AND I WAS RIGHT.
You were right, but it's STILL kinda sad that you thought of me!
I have very few sources of joy in my life, okay!?
Cherri, I'm right there with you. I was hoping Choire would have some Real Nerd Talk(tm) for us!
I have a friend who is watching it on the American schedule (which, WTF?), and it is KILLING ME not being able to nerd out about the Stonehenge episode with her. AGREED! There was a bit of flab there in the middle of the series, but it's really pulling together for the finale.
And I, for one, will be absolutely delighted if Amy does not become an all-powerful Time God by huffing the fumes put off by the Tardis engines and magically fix everything, thanks.
I think the Rose Tyler weeping finale referenced is the "season 2" finale, not the first. Cause shit, if you weren't crying at the scene at Bad Wolf Bay, you're not human.
I have a confession to make: I, too, am watching on the American schedule. Yes, I'm a 27-year-old man who never learned how to steal things on the Internet. Because it is Wrong, and I know I'd be the one schmuck the Feds would catch and throw the book at as an example. Hell, I even still pay for porn!
There's a Justin.tv user (strongbowrejuvenatedbobby) who streams the episodes live on Sundays, which is just awesome.
You really only have to worry about the feds if you're using the kind of service where you upload the file to other users during download (like torrents, or napster/kazaa/soulseek). If you're just streaming someone else's illegally uploaded file, it's relatively safe! (That is, legally safe– viruses are a different story.)
Even then, I got notice from my cable company that Lionsgate contacted them about my illegally downloading a Weeds torrent, and nothing bad happened to me.
Whoa, I missed the part where you pay for porn. You are obviously a lost cause for conversion to thief.
You are entirely correct, Cherri, and I knew that wasn't the episode being referenced even as I commented. I just can't think of Rose any other way now.
I know, dham, I'm a total lost cause. On many levels.
Amy Pond must be tired because she was running through my mind all last night.
I hear "The Lodger" is good, too. What did you think of that one? (And, no spoilers please, for us idiots who don't know how to torrent.)
I think "The Lodger" is excellent. (Although the soccer scene was more than a bit silly.) And you don't need a torrent! Just google it and you'll find some low-res streams.
That's another reason I'm not all that interested in illegal watching: who wants to watch shitty streams when I can wait a few weeks and see it on my big TV? Graininess is okay when you're watching a 30-second cat video, but to watch an actual show it has to be high-res or nothing.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH WATCHING IT ON THE AMERICAN SCHEDULE. SOME OF US LIKE TO PLAY BY THE RULES THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO PLAY BY THE RULES WATCH IT ON THE GERMAN SCHEDULE. HERE IN AMERICA WE STEAL THE FUCK OUT OF SHIT AND THEN REWRITE THE RULES.
I'm watching this on the "I just started season 3 on Netflix" schedule, which required me to read most of these comments with my eyes crossed. I just wanted to say that I watched the Bad Wolf Bay episode just last night and the tears, they were streaming!
Courtesy io9, at this link are some super spoilery spoilers for the finale. I haven't had the gumption to click through myself (OK I did but I only read the first one!) but I thought someone here might be into that sort of thing.
http://io9.com/5570394/bluehinters-doctor-who-spoilers
YAY! Thanks Adam! :D
Hmph! *crosses arms and looks sternly in Choire's direction before breaking into an "all is forgiven" smile*
Pft. I don't get Dr. Who, and find it offputting and strange. Is this the right place to ask someone who isn't the BIGGEST nerd to explain it to me? I like British comedies, broadly speaking, but Sci Fi stuff they do throws me for a loop that I cannot explain. (I'm looking at you, Red Dwarf!)
I am probably a bigger nerd than you would like to respond, but I, too, find some of the sci-fi stuff off-putting. I really love the historical episodes, though, and stick with them for those.
There is also something very comforting (though perhaps slightly repetitive) in knowing that – unless it's a season finale – everything's pretty much going to turn out alright by the end of the 43 minutes. I find the weird brand of semi-pacificism extolled by The Doctor very appealing as well. Things are trying to kill you? Ask them their names, they'll calm down and have a chat!
It's idealistic, hopelessly removed from reality, and I realize that may be off-putting. But it's also a fantastic escape, which I think is part of the overall appeal of all sci-fi – there are other places, other worlds, and the things that hold you back in your real life don't apply there.
I definitely think there's something veddy, veddy British about Doctor Who that I don't think us Yanks can quite comprehend no matter our nerdiness. Steeped in BBCAmerica and old British comedies as I am, I still know there's tons of stuff about DW I don't get and probably never will.
Sci-fi is also very sociological in a way comedy isn't. Certain cultures seem to go in, as a whole, for different kinds of comedy, but if you're a foreigner who happens to be into that kind of comedy, you can still get it more easily than you can science fiction, which reflects the hopes, fears, and ambitions of a current culture more than it does a future one.
I think Cherri's hit on something there–it's the odd one-worldish universalism of British sci-fi that makes it appealing to me (Hyperdrive's working-stiffs-in-space shtick, Red Dwarf's Esperanto-labeled corridors and multiculti original crew, the Doctor's ability to speak all alien languages).
Also, as a kid watching PBS repeats I loved the idea of a gallant, handsome time traveler who picked up girls and showed them the wonders of the universe. There, I said it.