Category: TV

Doctor Who bits

Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood is scheduled to start airing September 8th on BBC America, but you might want to wait a week (’til September 17th) as HDNet will be airing it in HD.

I didn’t know until I was digging around the Doctor Who Wikipedia page (I missed last week’s episode due to a FiOS outage) that there have been a number of Doctor Who stories produced by the BBC that I’d never seen. I’m not talking about the webcasts like Shada, or the hilarious spoof Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. Check them out for yourself while they’re around – I’m partial to Children in Need (it’s got Rose, and fills in a crucial gap), although The Infinite Quest has a nice guest villain (avoid Attack of the Graske unless you’re a completist, it’s painful).

Sixth Doctor
A Fix with Sontarans (part 1)
A Fix with Sontarans (part 2)

Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors (crossover with EastEnders)
Dimensions in Time (intro)
Dimensions in Time (part 1)
Dimensions in Time (part 2)

Tenth Doctor
Attack of the Graske (part 1)
Attack of the Graske (part 2)

Children in Need

The Infinite Quest (episode 1)
The Infinite Quest (episode 2)
The Infinite Quest (episode 3)
The Infinite Quest (episode 4)
The Infinite Quest (episode 5)
The Infinite Quest (episode 6)
The Infinite Quest (episode 7)
The Infinite Quest (episode 8 )
The Infinite Quest (episode 9)
The Infinite Quest (episode 10)
The Infinite Quest (episode 11)
The Infinite Quest (episodes 12 & 13)

Season 2 bloopers
Bonus David Tennant and Catherine Tate sketch

New V Sequel

For those (like me) who are big fans of the 1980s scifi miniseries V, original creator Kenneth Johnson will release a new novel in October, V: The Second Generation, which will be a sequel to the original miniseries (yay), but will ignore the second miniseries and subsequent TV series (boo, but understandable as he got kicked out).

The novel will feature old and new characters, and interest is hoped to drive either an adaption of it or a remake of the original as a TV movie. Either way I’ll be rewatching all the series before then so I can compare that to the new novel, as well as the never filmed script for V: The Next Chapter/Rebirth, by J. Michael Straczynski – which I got a copy of from him via eBay (I probably won’t reread all the booksor comics now).

San Diego Comic-Con news

I made it there in 1986 – my mom and sister went to France that summer, and my Dad and I said we’d get to go somewhere in return, so we chose San Diego, and he dropped me off in the mornings, caught up with friends (he lived out there for a while) and picked me up in the evenings. It was a lot of fun, I finished my X-Men collection, met all kinds of folks (Frank Miller, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby) and when it rolls around each year think about how much I’d like to go back (although if it and FRFF remain on the same schedule that could be a problem). One of the coolest things that happens there now is a lot of comics, TV and film news gets released there, and here are some of the things I’m psyched about:

  • Karen Allen will return as Marion Ravenwood in the new Indiana Jones (who needs Short Round).
  • Heroes’ Zachary Quinto (Sylar) and Leonard Nimoy will play young and old Spock in J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie.
  • Kevin Smith will write and direct an episode of Heroes: Origins, the six-episode spinoff series.
  • DC Comics will collect the online Heroes comic books this fall.
  • Harold Perrineau (Michael) will return to Lost in season 4, Libby’s past will be shown, and there’s a new Dharma Initiative short.
  • Iron Man film director Jon Favreau will write a four-issue Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas mini-series
  • First there was “Buffy Season 8” in the comics, now there will be an Angel Season 6, called Angel: After the Fall, and written by Brian Lynch.
  • Warren Ellis is writing Astonishing X-Men after Joss Whedon finishes his run.
  • The first of four made-for-DVD Futurama movies will arrive in November.
  • Battlestar Galactica:Razor will air on on Sci Fi Nov. 24 (and be on DVD before the fourth season starts) in January, telling the history of the Battlestar Pegasus. You’ll also see the original Cylon Centurions and Raiders.
  • Twin Peaks: The Complete Series box set will be out later this year and will include both seasons of the show as well as both versions of the pilot.

Torchy

BBC America will start showing Dr. Who (man, I’m loving the new season) spinoff Torchwood September 8. To whet your appetite, here’s an interview with series star John Barrowman.

FYI, Steven Moffat, author of legendary spoof “Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death” (as well as “The Girl in the Fireplace” and “The Doctor Dances”), will have his show Jekyll on BBC America on the same night.

Code Monkeys

Last night, I watched a new show on G4: Code Monkeys. Of course they were smart enough to use the JoCo song as their theme, already earning a point. The show is about a bunch of game developers (duh) in the ’80s, but the twist is it’s animated like a 2nd generation video game, with health rising and falling, characters side scrolling, typical music, etc. It’s a bit crass (think South Park), but still pretty funny. Repeats air all week if you want to check it out (I liked the first ep a good deal more than the second, but YMMV).

Also, there’ve been lots of cool videos for “Code Monkey”, but this is definitely one of the best. And here’s how to make a Big Warm Fuzzy Secret Heart.

Spring and Summer TV

The spring season is almost over, and soon I will be caught up (I say almost because The Sopranos doesn’t end until Sunday). I just watched this week’s Sopranos, and I’m four episodes behind on Riches. For the rest of the shows I watch, I’ve enjoyed them all. Heroes was my favorite new show, but the season finale was trapped by too much future prediction (the online comics will continue throughout the summer). Lost made a stunning return to form, and was clearly the best show on TV, followed closely by Battlestar Galactica. 24 and Desperate Housewives finished strong, I really enjoyed Rome, and Smallville was up and down (strongest when featuring members of the Justice League, weakest when treading water with the same relationships), but the cliffhanger was excellent. And Jericho had vastly improved with the storyline of another town invading, so I was disappointed when it was canceled, but it looks like CBS may bow to the fans and bring it back.

Over the summer my Sunday nights will be free to catch Simpsons and Family Guy, and I’ve got 9 episodes of the Dresden Files to watch, plus the rest of Studio 60. I’m continuing to watch Star Trek: Enterprise on HD Net (currently in season 2), and HD Net will start airing The Black Donnellys next Wednesday (I’m glad because that show was starting to get interesting, so I’ll get a chance to see the unaired eps). They will also be airing the Blade series – almost makes me wish I hadn’t watched it last summer, as it’s a great mix of action and politics that will come across well in HD. I’ll be watching the second season of Hex and the first season of Robin Hood on BBC America, and in July the third season of Doctor Who on Sci Fi (Torchwood, a Doctor Who spinoff, will be on BBC America in September). CBS has started airing Creature Comforts, an American version of the BBC show from Aardman (makers of Wallace & Gromit). We caught the first one last night, and it’s just as funny as the original. Finally, looks like Boomerang is finally starting to air Justice League season 3 (for some reason, they kept airing seasons 1 & 2 again and again – maybe trying to take their name too literally) so I’ll finally see that (if they ever air Batman: The Animated Series in chronological order, I’d like to watch that too).