What are you watching right now?

[Ricky]

Are you laughing because you agree with me

Because Ricky knows the reaction us Who fans are having right now. In his mind, it's probably something like this:

Spoiler:

Yes and Yes.

[DoctorDodge]

You've watched 2 eps Ricky and, aside from a fair level of cheesiness, you've basically said they were good, so you can't really say you agree with ka-mai (yet: i still think she'll like it better when we recommend her better eps than the typical children's opening ep).

[Heather19]

I'm probably the only one that watches this show, but I've been having a SeaQuest marathon this weekend. Almost done with season 1

[DoctorDodge]

Moving on from ka-mai's horrendously wrong opinion of the greatest. Show. Ever. (and needs to watch episodes written by the wonderful Steven Moffat to realise just how much the hype is justified in Who being as good as Harry Potter), past few days have been spent mostly watching the epic season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. Who knew a scifi show without any time travel could be so awesome? Seriously, while season 1 is probably my favourite so far, I have been greatly enjoying the whole show so far. Especially looking forward to finding out who the hell the Final Five are. (Even if the name does sound a little too much like a certain children's book series! )

[Brice]

Doctor Who is enough sci fi show for me. I really only like VERY little sci fi...books included. I am more intersted in the characters and story than the sci fi itself.

[DoctorDodge]

Doctor Who is enough sci fi show for me. I really only like VERY little sci fi...books included. I am more intersted in the characters and story than the sci fi itself.

QFT. There's very little scifi or fantasy that I enjoy. "Escapism" would be a better term for the kind of fiction I enjoy: ordinary, relatable characters having their lives changed forever by a simple event. (One of the reasons why I love The Drawing of the Three so much.) However, despite the fact that the allegories are really fucking obvious at times, BSG is overall a very good show. It's more like Lost in the storytelling approach: the scifi isn't as much the focus as the characters and how their lives are affected by the day-to-day struggles on a ship. No aliens or anything, just a very human story, ultimately. Perhaps not the "best show ever", but pretty darn good overall.

[fernandito]

I just watched an episode of Doctor Who, and I must say, you people have some serious explaining to do, because that was the stupidest episode of anything I've seen in a long time.

My reaction

Spoiler:

James and Jennifer's reaction

Spoiler:

[Darkthoughts]

I can see why people think that about Dr Who, it's very old skool BBC in that they don't see the point in completely believable special effects/costumes...but that's part of it's charm. The Beeb have always been that way, and so has Who...maybe you have to be British or a certain type of nerd to appreciate it?

Pond - even though I think most of us at TDT are a select type of nerd, I have been thinking of you as British for ages now, so consider yourself part of my sweeping UK generalisations whenever I make them

[DoctorDodge]

I just watched an episode of Doctor Who, and I must say, you people have some serious explaining to do, because that was the stupidest episode of anything I've seen in a long time.

My reaction

Spoiler:

James and Jennifer's reaction

Spoiler:

Actually, my reaction is more this:

Spoiler:

[alkanto]

Pond - even though I think most of us at TDT are a select type of nerd, I have been thinking of you as British for ages now, so consider yourself part of my sweeping UK generalisations whenever I make them

YES means I am one step closer to my goal of actually being British

And Feev? That is hysterical!

[DoctorDodge]

I can see why people think that about Dr Who, it's very old skool BBC in that they don't see the point in completely believable special effects/costumes...but that's part of it's charm. The Beeb have always been that way, and so has Who...maybe you have to be British or a certain type of nerd to appreciate it?

You mean the kind of nerd that only loves awesome television?

To be fair, I think the show has certainly looked better in recent years. True, the effects aren't quite as good as what you'd see in an American show, but they're pretty close now. The BBC are certainly treating it a lot better than they did in the 80s, that's for sure. (Although, frankly, that's not saying much, and they could still treat it a lot better.)

I think the show has been getting a lot more appeal in the US lately, and I think that's partly due to BBCAmerica's promotion of it, partly due to Moffat, but mostly because, imo, it's never been better, with complex, multiple season story arcs, a darker look than the RTD era and a more fairytale style of storytelling. Easily one of the best shows on tv atm, so I'm always amazed when someone doesn't like it.

[skyofcrack]

Just watched the first episode of The '70's from the BBC. I love this type of series or documentary. Anything from this decade is fascinating to watch on film. I was born in '67 so I grew up in the '70's.

[DoctorDodge]

Shit, I forgot to watch that. I may not have grown up in that decade, but I was raised on a ton of 70s stuff: a lot of music, like T-Rex, David Bowie, and of course some classic Stones tunes. There were also some great shows that decade too, like the Sweeney, so when I heard about Life on Mars - a modern day cop waking up in the 70s - I was interested immediately. I'll look up The '70's when I get home.

[fernandito]

I can see why people think that about Dr Who, it's very old skool BBC in that they don't see the point in completely believable special effects/costumes...but that's part of it's charm. The Beeb have always been that way, and so has Who...maybe you have to be British or a certain type of nerd to appreciate it?

You mean the kind of nerd that only loves awesome television?

To be fair, I think the show has certainly looked better in recent years. True, the effects aren't quite as good as what you'd see in an American show, but they're pretty close now. The BBC are certainly treating it a lot better than they did in the 80s, that's for sure. (Although, frankly, that's not saying much, and they could still treat it a lot better.)

I think the show has been getting a lot more appeal in the US lately, and I think that's partly due to BBCAmerica's promotion of it, partly due to Moffat, but mostly because, imo, it's never been better, with complex, multiple season story arcs, a darker look than the RTD era and a more fairytale style of storytelling. Easily one of the best shows on tv atm, so I'm always amazed when someone doesn't like it.

I have no problem with the special effects, I think it comes with the territory for network shows to have (at times) sub par effects due to budget constraints; the CGI polar bear in LOST was god awful.

Speaking for myself and no one else, I think one of the primary reasons I'm not crazy about the show despite being a huge sci-fi buff is that the central characters are unrelatable. One of the reasons I love LOST show much and the reason I consider it the best show I have ever seen is that despite it's sci-fi trappings, virtually all of the characters have strong roots in the real world, they all face dilemmas that mirror our own struggles. Whereas in Dr. Who, the central character is an alien that always has the answer, always saves the day while spewing one liners, etc., and Pond strikes me as a very one dimensional character (keeping in mind I've only seen 6 episodes, but those are my impressions thus far). I think of the show as a real life cartoon in a way, good for entertainment, but a bit shallow thematically.

[DoctorDodge]

I think this is why you need to watch a lot more of it: yes, the Doctor is a very clever, always saves the day, but he's also a man with demons,

Spoiler:

a man who's had to live with not only being the sole survivor of his race, but also being the guy who had to pull the trigger. He's not even a purely heroic figure - his actions have consequences, sometimes for the worse,

and that's really best seen in series 6. I suppose I can see where you're coming from with Amy though, but she does improve over the course of the whole season. I can also see where you're coming from with Lost. The only real problem I had with the characters was that nearly all of them had extraordinary backstories before they arrived on the island.

Spoiler:

One being a junkie rockstar, another being a cursed millionaire, another being a hotshot doctor etc.

There's great relatable themes within those stories, but no one seemed to come from a normal situation that I could relate to. There could have been another way, I think, to get those themes across with both the island story and the flashbacks, but that's probably just me. One thing I loved about Life on Mars was that Sam was a character with issues, but the only extraordinary thing about his life was his arrival in 1973.

[fernandito]

I will keep your points in mind as I progress through the series.

I'm curious to hear why Sarah didn't like it though lol.

[DoctorDodge]

Well, she did watch Rose, the first ep of not just series 1 of the new lot, but also of the RTD era, which is very different in style to the Moffat stuff. I like it, hell, I loved it when it was first on - first new Who ep in 16 years? Fuck yeah! But it's far from being a classic, it has to be said. I'm hoping she'll post some thoughts in the Who thread, anyway.

[DoctorDodge]

WRN:


So fucking true.

[TLC]

A documentary on Thai Elephants...

Many of them are abused and fed amphetamines to extend how long they work (AKA. Giving tourists rides throughout the forest)....

[DoctorDodge]

WRN: the final episode of Cracker.

Shit.

[DoctorDodge]

WRN: Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

[DoctorDodge]

WRN: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

Will post some thoughts later and rate it, but so far, so good. Seems to be a better effort at making a stylish and accurate translation of the original novel than the Swedish version, anyway.

[alkanto]

Watching: Supernatural! episode 9, season 2: Croatoan.

I'm only 5 min into it, but I'm instantly reminded of how much I freakin' love this show (pre-season 6), which simultaneously makes me very happy to be watching it again and sad, because I loved it so much but haven't watched it in so long...

[fernandito]

I watched an episode of Veep last night (the new one I guess?), very funny

Also about to wrap up Dead Like Me, only 5 episodes to go.

[DoctorDodge]

I've yet to watch the 2nd episode of Veep, but I greatly enjoyed the first ep. One of the few Americanisations of a great British show that completely works (probably because it still has the original British writers involved! ).

And I do need to rewatch Dead Like Me soon. What have been your thoughts on the 2nd season then, Fernando?