vilakins: Vila with stars superimposed (Default)
Nico ([personal profile] vilakins) wrote2003-11-18 03:22 pm
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Dr Who

For Dr Who fans, here's an interesting article in one of our newspapers.

I note the comment that "When rebellion became less fashionable, so too did Doctor Who." I've heard theories that the bleakness of Blake's 7's season 4 and the final scene were ordered around the same time so that a group of rebels who liked blowing things up would not be seen as either admirable or successful.

I've not seen that much Dr Who (I barely remember what I saw as a kid, and since then have only seen the first couple of series on reruns two years ago) but I'm looking forward to the new series.

[identity profile] astrogirl2.livejournal.com 2003-11-17 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
That is a very cool article! I've gone and linked to it on my blog page. (Hey, I mine all my friends as sources of blog material! :))

I'm a huge Who fan, myself, and unlike the B7 project, which I dread more each time I hear something new about it, I'm very much looking forward to this one.

[identity profile] vilakins.livejournal.com 2003-11-17 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I loved the bits of Dr Who I managed to see, though I missed whole Doctors along the way. I have however seen the Pluto taxation one mentioned in the article because I bought the videotape to see Michael Keating as a rebel who was much tougher than Vila. A very funny and satirical story.

[identity profile] astrogirl2.livejournal.com 2003-11-17 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, and MK was great in it, too!

[identity profile] vilakins.livejournal.com 2003-11-17 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course he was! [dreamy pause to think about him]

[identity profile] hafren.livejournal.com 2003-11-17 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
and the final scene were ordered around the same time so that a group of rebels who liked blowing things up would not be seen as either admirable or successful.

Tis an interesting theory but I don't buy it. Woiuld they then have shown a Blake whose major fault is still trusting people too much, or a Vila who overcomes his native cowardice right at the end? And the federation are still being seen as totalitarian right up to the last - look what they did to Gauda. I think the bloodbath is pure CB trying to find a fit ending!
Dr Who was doomed from the day Michael Grade got the power to ensure it was. On the Room 101 programme, years after, he was still citing having destroyed it as his proudest moment.

[identity profile] vilakins.livejournal.com 2003-11-18 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
Tis an interesting theory but I don't buy it.

I'm not sure I do either. When my UK friend proposed it I didn't believe a word of it, but when I read things like that I do wonder whether she's got something.

Dr Who was doomed from the day Michael Grade got the power to ensure it was. On the Room 101 programme, years after, he was still citing having destroyed it as his proudest moment.

Why did he hate it so much?

Perhaps the climate at the time, and things like that are why this friend has her theory. She has no evidence for it, but it's interesting. I suppose if there was anything in it though, people like CB would have said something by now.

[identity profile] hafren.livejournal.com 2003-11-18 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
Why did he hate it so much?

because it was SF, I think, and because he saw it as a children's programme hijacked by sad adults who should have been watching something more grown-up. On Room 101 he mocked the sets and sfx, which was a bit rich coming from the man in charge of the budget, and he also made it clear he disliked the fans, who had always been vociferous awkward buggers not content to sit back and accept what TPTB chose to do.

[identity profile] vilakins.livejournal.com 2003-11-18 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
Poor guy. I bet he never had much fun.