andy

It looks like Series Four is a go. No word on Tennant's or Freema's participation but I'd be surprised if they are not there. I don't know if the actors are still in negotiations or if announcing the cast will ruin the storylines for Series Three, but I suspect it's a bit of both.

Well I can't see the show lasting another 26 years in the currrent television climate. Somewhere between five to ten series would be be a good run for the new Who. Then it could be kept alive with a regular TV special.

I doubt RTD will overstay his welcome a la John Nathan Turner, but I would like to have he and Tennant stay long enough to really put their mark on the show.

I'm going to defend RTD inasmuch that while he may not be the greatest script writer ever on Who, none of his stories have been truly awful, even the much hated "Love and Monsters" has enough charm and novelty to make up for some of the cringe-inducing elements.

Frankly it's thanks to RTD prestige in the BBC that we have Doctor Who on the air and at a creative height not seen since the early 70s and probably more popular than ever. I still can't believe how big the show is now and how modern it is. I think about how much worse a current Who could have been, either being a complete cheesey piss-take or a totally po-faced 'for the fans only' series strangled by the weight of its own past continunity.

That's not to say RTD is above criticism but while I don't think anyone here has attacked him as much as the grown-up Star Wars fans have criticized George Lucas for not making the prequels the great dramas the original films were when they were 8, I think that RTD has done more good than bad in position that's pretty much thankless in terms of never being able to please every longtime Who fan.

That being said I wouldn't mins seeing him and Tennant stay on 'til the end of the fifth season and either give the show to a totally new team or end it and just do an annual Christmas show.

I thought the film Rawked!

Many people describe it as a cross between Sin City and Gladiator but it was much better than either. I would say it's the opposite of Troy, whereas that film took a myth and tried to make it realistic, 300 takes a real historic event and turns it into something mythic.

Plus I would say it's the most accurate comic to film translation so far. So if you didn't like the GN, or if you want a historical documentary, or if you can't not view things without any modern day baggage, then perhaps you should stay home and rent Beaches instead. :)

Oh and I loved the score...the best music to work out to since the Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack.

I was also underwhelmed by Babel. It was well made but the the script was just a wee bit too pretentious. I liked it as a travelogue but I didn't see the theme so much as a breakdown in communication but more of how impulsively making bad decisions can have negative ramifications.

Amores Perros was also somewhat pretentious but it felt like it had more life to it as well as it feeling more "real".

As I look back at the films of 2006 I'm starting to think that Casino Royale just might be the best film of the lot.

The last two Who audios I bought were Seasons of Fear and Memory Lane both of which I enjoyed. Paul Cornell usually always does a good job but I think I actually preferred the latter with its "Old Star Trek episode but with wit" feel.

Obviously I prefer the McGann audios but will certainly pick up one of the other Doctors' if the story is good enough. That being said, I've yet to experience any of the Slyvester McCoy audios mostly because I never really warmed up to his portrayal of the Doctor on television.

Damn I was just about to place an order for some more Who audios.

Circular Time or The Kingmaker?

Neverland or Embrase the Darkness?

I'll probably just get drunk and order all four of them though.

Bret Favor will stay with the Packers one more season and will break some QB records and not get anywhere near the play-offs.

Jeff Garcia is a good QB but too inconsistent to last as a starter anywhere.

T.O. will continue to add drama to Dallas and might actually learn how not to drop the ball.

Moss should be traded to the Texans for a third round draft pick.

Can't say I'm all that thrilled with Wade, but he will have a pretty good collection of players to work with so with any luck his defensive skills will come in handy and the Cowboys can actually win a play-off game this century.

Cheers Mark, that is quite a surprisingly wide selection of stories there for free.

 

Genesis of the Daleks, got this one on DVD for my brother for xmas, highly recommended.

 

Caves of Androzani, one of the few really good stories from the 1980's and one of my personal favourites.

 

Spearhead from Space the first colour story. Apart from the novelty value of that, still a pretty good story.

 

Inferno, now thats how you do a alternate universe in Who.

Thank goodness for YouTube, eh....That along with my old VHS collection from the 80s, I've been digging through the huge vault of past Doctor Who stories. I just re-watched the Peter Davison story "Black Orchid" for the first time in over 20 years and quite enjoyed it. Compared to the current series, it moved at a snail's pace, but I loved the relaxed quality to it as well as it being I believe the last "pure" historical the series has made.

Scared of Chaka?

 

I had no idea they were Shins related.

Guitar boy Dave Hernandez was in both bands as well as they all fucked the same girls.

I too think the Dylan bio-pic I'm Not There will probably be painful to watch but it's an interesting idea (different actors playing the same person in a variety of short films format) which future bio-pics should use.

The final score was only two points away from my prediction...should have gone to Vegas with those numbers. Speaking of which I wonder if anyone made a wager that the first play of the game would be a run back for a TD...if anyone did that person would probably be a lot richer today.

As for the game itself I thought at first it was going to be much more exciting than it turned out to be. Unsurprisingly the Bears fell apart as the game progressed.

With just a few hours before the game I think it'll be the Colts over the Bears 31-17 but I wouldn't mind having Urlacher and his team pull off an upset over the somewhat irratating Payton Manning.

I've been listening to the new Shins CD pretty much non-stop for the last week but I sort of feel like a poser for liking them now being that I went to University with some of those guys and remember seeing a pre-record deal Shins as well as some of their earlier bands live in local clubs and not really giving a damn at the time.

 

I suppose they just sound better on CD.

Flake Music?

Yeah Flake as well as Scared of Chaka were pretty popular back in the mid 90s when I could still go to clubs and not feel old and creepy. I just didn't realize James Mercer was a musical genius back when he was just "that guy from my English Lit class".

I've been listening to the new Shins CD pretty much non-stop for the last week but I sort of feel like a poser for liking them now being that I went to University with some of those guys and remember seeing a pre-record deal Shins as well as some of their earlier bands live in local clubs and not really giving a damn at the time.

I suppose they just sound better on CD.

I'm sure it won't be Doctor Who Anime and it won't be as great as we'll imagine it to be in our heads but a collection of animated shorts might be a nice little add-on to the live action series. Realistically it'll probably be little more than a moving comic strip but still...

This cartoon will probably be pretty juvenile but still I think it's kind of cool...

Animated adventure for the Doctor and Martha.

Doctor Who and Martha are about to step into a new dimension - a cartoon one.

David Tennant and Freema Agyeman will star in The Infinite Quest, a 13-part animated adventure that will run weekly in the second series of Totally Doctor Who.

"The Doctor And Martha follow a trail of clues across wild and wonderful alien worlds, to find the location of the legendary lost spaceship, the Infinite," revealed Russell T Davies.

Anthony Head, who played evil headmaster Mr Finch in last season's School Reunion, will guest star as a a new character, Baltazar - Scourge of the Galaxy.

Freema in particular was thrilled to be taking Doctor Who into a whole new world of possibilities.

"I didn't think my Doctor Who experience could get any more thrilling but I was absolutely blown away when they approached me about the new animation series!

"The prospect of becoming a cartoon character was both exciting and also a bit nerve-wracking as it was the first time I have been asked to do voice-over work," she said.

"But I needn't have worried - my first session involved being in a small recording room with David, Anthony Head and Toby Longworth - and all of us falling about with laughter as we tried to imagine the movements of the cartoon characters and how mad it all seemed! It was such a fun experience and now I can't wait to see how it all looks!"

The Infinite Quest is written by Alan Barnes and directed by Gary Russell. The spectacular animation will be crafted by Firestep, the creative team behind previous Doctor Who animated adventures for the BBC. Thanks to developments in animation and computer technology, expect some amazing advances on previous animations.

I'm so sick of Tom Brady and the Patriots, so I'm glad the Colts made it.

I have some love for Brady as he was a solid QB for the Wolverines despite getting shafted by retard Carr

Everything about Tom Brady (young, good looking, successful, dates supermodels) suggests that I should hate him but frankly he SEEMS like a humble, decent sort of guy. I never hear stories about him like I do some of the other athletes who seem prone to get in trouble with the law.

At least the AFC Championship game was a good one, although I was hoping it would all come down to Brady throwing the ball into the endzone with one second left.

Can't say I'm all that excited about the SuperBowl however.

I should go for the Bears what with Urlacher coming from my alma mater but I do like Tony Dungy even though I don't much care for the Manning family.

Fuck it...I just want a good game but even more I want to win some football pools.

Another week, another heartbreak. I can't believe the Chargers fucked up another play-off game at home. I still have hope for the Saints but it won't be the same with either the Colts or Pats in there. Part of me wants to see Manning and Dundgy to get their stupid ring so I don't have to hear about it but also part of me wants to see Pats win another one in the same way I wanted to see Jordan and the Bulls win, and yet another part of me wants the NFC to win a Super Bowl. So whatever happens, happens......

I know I'm not the only one who thinks that a there should be an episode with a flashback of Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith as the Doctor and Lucie Miller. It could be sort of a 10th Doctor and Martha need to correct a mistake that the 8th Doctor made or something of that nature. Plus it would a great promotional tie-in with the current BBC 7 audios.

To quote William Hurt in a recent comic book movie:

HOW DO YOU FUCK THAT UP?

Actually I wonder if the mafia has something on Romo the way it seems like he's making mistakes on purpose. Not only is my hopes for a Cowboys/Chargers Super Bowl now gone but so is my wanting to see a Cowboys/Philly play-off re-match.

First LP: Probably the Star Wars soundtrack when I was 6.

First cassette: Sgt. Pepper by the Beatles.

First CDs: Murmur by REM, Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan and The Final Cut by Pink Floyd. I'm a bit embarrassed by that last one having just re-listened to it for the first time in quite a while and finding it quite dated with horribly overwrought lyrics from Roger Waters.

How the fuck did the Lions beat the Cowboys at home? I'd like to think that Dallas threw the game thinking that they would have a better chance of winning against Seattle next week but I know in reality they're just a team that's falling apart. My hopes of a Dallas/San Diego Super Bowl are diminishing. However I'll take a New Orleans/San Diego Super Bowl as a consolation prize, although I'm afraid it's going to be a Baltimore/Philly one and I'll have no one to root for.