Classic Who on BBC America

[Alidar Jarok]

The latter.

[Iamnotspock]

Mr Light wrote:

---

The Autons breaking out of the glass displays in the mall?

Pedantic I know, but not until Rose (2005). The Autons in Spearhead... break out of a high street shopping centre, with the glass-smashing itself being an off-screen sound effect.

[Christopher]

Arrghh, they did that awful image-distortion thing to stretch it out to letterbox aspect ratio again. Why, why, why?! It looks horrible and stupid that way. Everyone standing left or right of center is bloated out ridiculously. Why would any human being on the entire planet think that was in any way desirable to look at?

Anyway, "Spearhead" is a a better story than I remembered. The production was rather problematical, with pretty bad audio and a rather amateurish look, but the story was effective and the pacing remarkably brisk. Well, in some respects. The downside is that it takes the Doctor nearly half the serial to get his act together and start participating meaningfully in the investigation of the Autons.

I've always found the design of the Nestene life form in the tank, just the pulsing bit we got to see through the window, to be surprisingly effective for something so simple. It's basically just a plastic bag with a rod pulling it in and out in the middle, but it manages to convey a rather creepy pseudo-organic appearance, and it's actually supposed to look plastic as well, so that works. The rubber tentacles at the end are less effective, I guess because they don't have that disturbingly transparent cell-membrane quality.

[Redfern]

I watched the retrospective, of course, and just enough of the actual story to see if they pulled that "stretch to LetterBox" formatting again. The "pan" in space, drawing Earth into the shot was the give away, turning our home world into a bloody egg for several frustrating moments. After that, I switched off the TV. I had viewed my vintage "from the air" VCR recording of the serial only a couple of months ago, so I was satisfied.

Having seen BBCA pull this stunt twice, I now wonder why it didn't with "The Aztecs"? (Though I'm glad it didn't, not having seen that adventure before that broadcast.)

Well, now we know, at least in part, why Moffatt created the Weeping Angels. To hopefully present viewers the feelings of dread he experienced upon seeing shop dummies lumbering under their own power within the streets. (And in their debut, the Angels certainly did that.)

Sincerely,

Bill

[RAMA]

I find it cool that BBCAmerica is showing these old episodes and the restrospective in the US! Some of these like Spearhead from Space may be rudimentary but they're still pretty good stories. Pertwee I must say...is awesome. However they look, they look better than the PBS versions I used to watch..

RAMA

[Christopher]

Redfern wrote:

---

I watched the retrospective, of course, and just enough of the actual story to see if they pulled that "stretch to LetterBox" formatting again. The "pan" in space, drawing Earth into the shot was the give away, turning our home world into a bloody egg for several frustrating moments. After that, I switched off the TV. I had viewed my vintage "from the air" VCR recording of the serial only a couple of months ago, so I was satisfied.

I was tempted to turn it off, but it's been so long since I've seen it that I put up with it. But I hope BBCA is getting enough complaints about this obscenity that they stop doing it before the next one.

Well, now we know, at least in part, why Moffatt created the Weeping Angels. To hopefully present viewers the feelings of dread he experienced upon seeing shop dummies lumbering under their own power within the streets.

I've never heard them called "shop dummies" before, so it was weird to hear everyone saying it constantly in the retrospective. I guess that's a British usage. And a comparatively recent one, since in the actual serial they did call them "mannequins," which is what we call them in the US. I think they also called them "window dummies" once or twice in the serial, though.

It was weird that one of the interviewees in the retrospective was some guy I didn't recognize, Adam Garcia. I looked him up, and he played Harriet Jones's assistant in "The Christmas Invasion" -- and that's it. I don't get it. Is he famous from some other show?

[sidious618]

All the episodes they've aired have also been on Netflix which is annoying. I'd like to see some that aren't as readily available.

[OmahaStar]

sidious618 wrote:

---

All the episodes they've aired have also been on Netflix which is annoying. I'd like to see some that aren't as readily available.

Already announced for Tom Baker is the Pyramids of Mars. I wonder what they're going to do when they get to June? NONE of Colin's stories (outside his time with the Davison stories) are streaming on Netflix. As for August, it will be the first time the US has seen the McGann movie in years ... I'm all for that!

Even though I don't care for the character (see? I can be nice), I wonder why Katy Manning wasn't part of the documentary? She's the only full-on companion who is still with us, and I think should have been included.

Would it be too much to hope that there are extended interviews, and BBC is planning to release them on DVD/Blu-Ray once they've all aired?

[Redfern]

Christopher wrote:

---

I've never heard them called "shop dummies" before, so it was weird to hear everyone saying it constantly in the retrospective. I guess that's a British usage. And a comparatively recent one, since in the actual serial they did call them "mannequins," which is what we call them in the US.

Well, I personally used the phrase I did because I can never correctly spell the other.

Sincerely,

Bill

[Mr. Adventure]

OmahaStar wrote:

---

NONE of Colin's stories (outside his time with the Davison stories) are streaming on Netflix.

His coat uses up too much bandwidth.

[Alidar Jarok]

sidious618 wrote:

---

All the episodes they've aired have also been on Netflix which is annoying. I'd like to see some that aren't as readily available.

Yeah, I know. That's what bothers me.

[VDCNI]

Christopher wrote:

---

I was tempted to turn it off, but it's been so long since I've seen it that I put up with it. But I hope BBCA is getting enough complaints about this obscenity that they stop doing it before the next one.

I've never heard them called "shop dummies" before, so it was weird to hear everyone saying it constantly in the retrospective. I guess that's a British usage. And a comparatively recent one, since in the actual serial they did call them "mannequins," which is what we call them in the US. I think they also called them "window dummies" once or twice in the serial, though.

It was weird that one of the interviewees in the retrospective was some guy I didn't recognize, Adam Garcia. I looked him up, and he played Harriet Jones's assistant in "The Christmas Invasion" -- and that's it. I don't get it. Is he famous from some other show?

Shop dummies isn't a recent name - it's just what people would be more likely to call them in everyday speech.

Adam Garcia isn't particularly famous even here so I'm a bit surprised he was on it.

[Alidar Jarok]

Even in America, I've heard the word dummy for mannequin. Shop dummy is a good clarification, imo, and nothing unusual.

[OmahaStar]

VDCNI wrote:

---

Adam Garcia isn't particularly famous even here so I'm a bit surprised he was on it.

Then again, he played the assistant to Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister), so it's "close" to having her back ... don't give me that look!

[Christopher]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

---

Even in America, I've heard the word dummy for mannequin. Shop dummy is a good clarification, imo, and nothing unusual.

I'm not objecting to it, I'm just saying I hadn't heard it before. Indeed, I've always enjoyed learning the ways British usage differs from American.

I've probably heard "dummy" used before, but in the US we tend to say "store" instead of "shop," at least in my part of the country. "Shop" is used, but in a narrower context, more for a small boutique sort of thing, I guess.

On that subject, I found it interesting that the preceding documentary made a reference to how villains like the Autons could menace people anywhere "from the home to the High Street." Now, "High Street" is a British usage you don't find in America (the closest equivalent is "Main Street," although I gather a High Street is more of a shopping district, like an urban mall), and it wouldn't be surprising to hear that term in a UK production. But I thought these documentaries were made by BBC America for the US audience (after all, a UK audience would have less need for such overviews of past Doctors). So I was surprised to hear the term used here.