posted
The Radio Times magazine in the UK has a major spoiler about the upcoming two-parter, concerning what Sec and the Cult of Skaro have been up to since they escaped being sucked into the void in "Doomsday"... Click at your own risk!
The preview itself has some pretty hefty speculation going for it. Apparently, the Empire State Building iteself is figuring into the Daleks' plan, hich also involves humanoid pigs and a depression-era slum full of Americans with guns.
posted
My continued love affair with Wikipedia continues - the final production related note for this eppisode currently reads :
The cover for the Radio Times for the week from 21-27 April shows a picture of the Dalek/Human hybrid. It is a dalek mutant for the head and the body is human, though there is a large laser cannon coming from the chest, which bears a strange resembalance to the head of [Mr. Poe], a character in the [Series of Unfortunate Events] books. However Muscle T Fatman, the famous Sumo Wrestler, says that these do not appear until Dalek Sec says the phrase 'I am the FATLEK, now attack my Dalek-Human creatures with a large laser cannon coming from your chest, which bears a strange resembalance to the head of Mr. Poe!'
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I'd say the Dalek Sec Hybrid looks like a man's private area after an accident with a blender, but either way, it's slightly annoying to have the picture plastered all over magazines on every news stand, when the thing's only supposed to be revealed at the very end of episode 1.
posted
The best idea since "Jason Takes Manhattan".
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Well, he can enter the industry in the San Fernando Valley I guess...
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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posted
So, the Cult of Skaro somehow managed to get out of the void and into 1930's Manhattan. Doing something with the Empire State Building that involves plates that look a lot like the lower armour of a Dalek.
They're also evolving into something new with humans...? I found it incredibly strange to hear someone with an American accent say Dalek... *snicker*
Also, the Doctor can somehow use 1930's technology to make a DNA scanner that gives a readout in some Time Lord data tag that identifies species and planet of origin. Pretty neat, that.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
It would seem the BBC has finally woken up to the realisation they're doing one of those silly space shows, and are doing everything they can to remove it from their schedules, going by their suddenly-erratic scheduling decisions.
One truth has become self-svident: British actors who can do American accents, are working in the American market. Any British actor doing an American accent for the British market is doing so because they can't actually do an American accent. Even Hugh Quarshie, one of the best actors of his generation, seemed to struggle a bit.
posted
It'll be relegate to bbc 2 before you know it. How long before they cancel it in favour of some (total lack of) talent show?
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
So Doctor Who is facing cancellation hell? What about the whole spiel about Tennant getting to play the Doctor for three years? What about those other Who spin-off shows?
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
The ratings say otherwise. There were less people watching this week, but it was still by far the most watched show of the day, beating out its competition by two million viewers and earning an excellent appreciation index rating. Also, the next day repeat was a record number of people who missed it the first time. Doctor Who ain't going anywhere - it's just being bounced around because of football and other current event stuff.
As for the episode itself - but for the dodgy accents and the fact that most of it was setup looking for next week's payoff, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Production-wise, I think it even beat "Gridlock" in the sense that I found the re-creation of New York in 1930 to be pretty convincing for what we saw of it. The Who crew is starting to get a hang of larger scale green screen use, which they've avoided for much of the first two years.
Notes:
-Hugh Quarshie was most recently seen for me as Queen Amidala's head guard in "The Phantom Menace", but to me will always be Sunda Kastagir, the third-last Immortal from the original "Highlander" movie. I think he did a fine job here.
-Hey, weren't they supposed to head right home after New Earth? There's no explanation for his detour... I'm almost thinking that they moved this one up a slot to delay Martha's return home to her dysfunctional family.
-Pigs again? I guess since they have similar enough DNA, they would be easier to splice with humans. But why pigs? What's wrong with mind control a la Robomen which we've seen in several Dalek stories?
-I guess the answer is that the Cult of Skaro is stuck using local technology until they can build up to the new stuff. the DNA replication and manipulation is nothing new to these new series Daleks, and it seems that Sec (who looks different than the mutants we've seen so far) has been modifying himself and his casing into an incubator of sorts. I can't imagine what he'd need a big squidgy vagina / uterus for in the first place.
-Likewise, one of the CoS has sacrificed some of his Dalek bumps to be placed on the top of the tower. The bump panels have been replaced with steel which has been riveted in place, but it seems that it was just absorbed or cut from existing metal (there's a logo of some sort on one of the sections).
-And these Daleks' powers of observations are reduced somehow, since the Doctor is able not only to sneak into the group of prisoners without being noticed, but to stand just behind the first row of people in plain view and not be detected by sight or metabolism, which has happened before. Each of these Daleks has specifically seen him before, and they're keyed to know and fear him. So, I'm guessing that the "emergency temporal shift" is something that took an awful lot out of them, and they've been cannibalizing themselves since them to get what they need for their plan.
-Lazlo is turned into a pig, and I'm guessing the squelchy green thing was his or meant for him, but he removed it or escaped before it could be fully squelched into his brain. So, how's he been surviving in the sewers? How has he been eating? Where's he been getting those roses from?
-Couldn't Martha sneak BEHIND the stage to look at Lazlo instead of going through the musical number?
The Doc and Martha are there in November; the site started excavation that January and would be opened in May of '31, and the building itself was designed in two weeks. That's pretty fast by today's standards!
-The Beeb sent this story's writer and the "Confidential" crew out to New York to shoot plates and some footage for the episode. The exterior of the theatre is an actual theatre in New York - a daylight photo was shot of it, which was modified to look like it would in the '30s with added extras and vehicles. Well done.
posted
They're not boobs! They're Dalek bumps. They can locate eteheric beams and ... everything.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:One truth has become self-svident: British actors who can do American accents, are working in the American market. Any British actor doing an American accent for the British market is doing so because they can't actually do an American accent. Even Hugh Quarshie, one of the best actors of his generation, seemed to struggle a bit.
I remember watching an episode of "Are You Being Served," where Mrs. Slocombe's rich American uncle was supposed to pay for her wedding. The guy's fake American accent was the most horrible thing I'd heard in a long time. Not to mention the fact that in the late '70's to early '80's, the prevailing stereotype in UK television production was that every American was rich and wore cowboy boots & a ten-gallon hat.
Of course, in Britain's defense, we Yanks had the prevailing stereotype that all Brits had crooked teeth and went around saying "Guv'nah" all the time.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
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