OT: And I Thought We Were All A Little Geeky...

[Grumpy Guy]

Before Love Hina was Gir from Invader Zim.  Before that was Love Hina.

Again, what the hell are you talking about?

[Cullen]

Go ahead.  Play it off.  It's not as if having Captain Janeway wallpaper is a crime or anything.  Nothing to be embarassed about.

[ulthar]

Do Whovians live in Whoville?

[Ash]

Ulthar said:  "Do Whovians live in Whoville?"

Hehe!
I was gonna ask the same thing.

What the heck is a Whovian?

Ah!  Now you got that Whoville song stuck in my head!
"Ba-hoo-doray
Ba-hoo-doray welcome Christmas bring your cheer"  
(I think that's how it goes)

Now I won't be able to sleep!



Post Edited (02-09-04 01:02)

[Ash]

Neon Noodle said:   "I would expect to wake up during their teenage years with a chainsaw cleaving me in half".

Hey didn't that happen in a Tales From the Crypt episode?

It was about two twins who always wanted to "share" a man.
Who starred in that one?

[ulthar]

ASHTHECAT wrote:


> What the heck is a Whovian?
>

I'm guessing one who's into Dr. Who, kinda like a trekkie/trekker.

I used to like Dr. Who, but have not seen it in a very long time.  I certainly was not conversant enough to be called by any nickname   ;)

[Ash]

Ah.

I myself have never seen even a single episode of Dr. Who which is brought up quite frequently on this board.

What is Dr. Who about and where & when was it produced?

Hmmmm....maybe I'll have to check 'em out sometime.

[Cullen]

Doctor Who is the longest running Science Fiction series ever, running from 1963 to 1989.  Produced in Great Britain, it began life as semi educational programming, where the heroes would go to various time periods and learn about the people and events there.  Before the first season was over, however, it had mutated into something much more than that.  Over the next twenty years, it continued to change, until it became much more of an adult show.

(Adult meaning mature rather than XXX)

Even though it has be off the air for over a decade, it, like Star Trek has never gone away.  There have been a wide variety of books, comics, and audio dramas devoted to the character.  Word has it that a new TV series is in the works, though whether it continues the original series or begins something new has yet to be determined.

Now, as to who Doctor Who the character is, that's a little bit more detailed.  The short of it is that he's an alien, a Time Lord to be precise.  He fled his home planet in a erratic Time/Space Machine known as the TARDIS in order to see the Universe.  Calling himself the Doctor (and, odd as it may be, almost never referring to himself as Doctor Who)  he slowly changed as he traveled, until he became a defender of life throughout the cosmos.  During the series run, he has battled evil geniuses, struggled against alien races bent on world conquest, and even dealt with powerful, godlike beings.

Sounds simple enough.  However, in 1966, the original actor playing the Doctor, William Hartnell, became too ill to continue playing the role.  So they replaced him with another actor, Patrick Troughton.  They explained the change as part of a Time Lords nature, that if a Time Lord is too hurt, becomes too ill, or the like, he can regenerate into a new body.  Since Hartnell's departure, there have been eight other actors playing the part of the Doctor.

Doctor Who is noted for some really excellent writing, but it is probably best known for its dire special effects.  I mean, Dire with a capital D.  I've been a fan of the series for over twenty five years, and I can defend most every aspect of the series save the F/X.

The problem stemmed from the BBC, who considered Doctor Who a children's show and budgeted it accordingly.  Building convincing alien worlds is hard enough without severe money issues.  The producers did the best they could with what little they had.  More often than not they failed, but when they did succeed, they did so in an amazing fashion.

This is but the tip of the iceberg, really.  Doctor Who is to Great Britain what Star Trek is to us in the US.  There are several sites to go to where more can be learned (assuming, of course, I haven't driven everyone away with the description).  Among the best are Outpost Gallifrey and the series main webpage at BBC.co.uk.

This is my favorite TV series.  It is what made me who I am today.  Now, I don't blame the series for that, so you shouldn't either.

Really, it's a great show.  Give it a chance.

[JohnL]

It should also be mentioned that Dr. Who has all but disappeared from American stations since the BBC started insisting on some restrictive licensing conditions. If I remember correctly, I think they insisted that stations license ALL the episodes, which is like 7-8 months worth of shows rather than just the ones they wanted. Since this is a big commitment, not to mention more expensive, most stations, the SciFi channel included declined to keep showing them.

At first it was syndicated in certain parts of the country, starting with Tom Baker's (the 4th Doctor) episodes, but it was taken off partway through his run. It then showed up on PBS where they showed all the episodes, or most of them (I never saw the last Doctor at all). SciFi played it for a while, but then they dropped it. A few years ago, there was a US TV movie that was officially a continuation of the show (it started with the last Doctor transforming into a new actor), but it was completely different in tone from the series and most fans, myself included, hated it.

Also, many of the older episodes are lost, possibly forever. At the time, the BBC didn't consider the episodes worth keeping, so the tapes were recorded over. In more recent years, the BBC has asked that anyone who has any of the missing episodes contact them so that they can make copies, no questions asked. So far they've recovered several episodes and parts of others, but many are still missing.

Each episode is a half hour, but each story is made up of 2 to 10 episodes. Some of the seasons had an overall story arc, but most were composed of stand-alone stories. Besides the Doctor, there were usually 1-3 other people travelling with him as 'companions', who would come and go as the series progressed.

There were also two British made theatrical movies starring Peter Cushing. The first one, Doctor Who and the Daleks was a retelling of the first story from the series. The second,  Daleks Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.  was a new story. Both movies borrowed the basic idea from the show, but were mostly separate from it.

BTW, you may never have seen Dr. Who, but you've probably seen a dalek before;

Dalek Extermination Page

[Grumpy Guy]

Jesus H. Christ!!!!!

Look, my problem here is that you're telling outright lies to these people.  About me.  That grates a little.  I like Star Trek.  I even like Voyager after the crappy first season.

But I have never liked any ST series enough to look at any of the characters every time I turn on the computer.

My apologies to anyone who was offended by my reference to JC above.

[Grumpy Guy]

Damn.  And I mean that.

I just took that Geek test.  holy s**t.

45.56213% - Super Geek

That kinda stung...

What really bugs me is that there's hardly anything about Anime there, nothing about Dr. Who, and nothing about furries.

I'm actually geekier than the test even thinks I am.  Holy Crap.



Post Edited (02-10-04 04:12)

[Grumpy Guy]

Cullen wrote:

> A geek, maybe, but not a true Doctor Who fan.  It's SARAH Jane
> Smith.  Sarah with an H.
>
> What makes this especially gigglesome is that Kingdom's name is
> spelt Sara.  You got 'em reversed!


You know, you might be suprised at how much I just don't care.

[Cullen]

Boy, are you taking this too personally.

[Cullen]

Grumpy Guy wrote:

> You know, you might be suprised at how much I just don't care.

No, no, I don't think I would be.

Just thought it was funny.

Geez.

[Cullen]

Further word from the good JohnL.  I have a feeling I should have left the whole matter to you.  Not bad, not bad at all...