To all contributors to the Doctor Who guide on TV.com, Sadly, my time as editor of this guide must come to an end. It is time for me to regenerate, and for Gislef to take his turn at the helm of this particular TARDIS. ...in other words, it is with regret that I must resign from my position as editor of the Doctor Who guide. Really, I should have thought this through more carefully and resigned before the start of this current series, but unfortunately I didn't, and it cannot (and literally will not) wait until our mid-series pause. My reasons for resigning are three-fold. Firstly, and most pertinently, I simply don't have the time to do the job properly any more. I am currently training to be a Secondary Physics Teacher, and my work load is massive. Of course, come the new academic year when I'm a fully-fledged teacher, it will only increase. As editor of one of TV.com's most active guides, I should technically be dealing with submissions within three days. Really, it should be more like 12-odd hours. In reality, I'm leaving it longer, because I simply cannot find the time to process what are often well over 50 submissions for each episode directly after airing. As well as this, I don't have the time required to do a good job of moderating this forum. I have missed flare-ups in the past, and we have lost valuable members because of such incidents. Secondly, since moving from TV Tome to TV.com (is there actually anyone left who remembers TV Tome? It seems so, so far in the past now...), I have always been rather strongly against the method in which editors are chosen, or more specifically, replaced. I still am. I have put a huge amount of work into this guide over the past few years, and yet I am very close to being usurped by another editor. Does that mean TV.com count my contributions as worthless? Granted, the other editor has of course also put in a great deal of work, but I almost feel as if mine counts for nothing. If it did, I surely wouldn't be so quickly replaced. At least by actively 'retiring', I'll get the recognition of a 'retired' label, as kennyjs did when he retired. I must stress that this is a bugbear I have with the TV.com system, and definitely not any single user. Finally, and unfortunately in contrast to the last point, a bugbear with specific people. I have been treated extremely heavy-handedly by certain members, who feel that their contributions are more valid than others, and who have tried to make me believe that, in letting through very small, insignificant errors (such as an incorrect comma, or slight one-word misquotes), I am grossly failing at my (voluntary) job. Of course, this kinda links in well with my first post - I haven't had time to sit in front of each episode skipping back and forth to check each quote for point-perfect accuracy. Sadly, these members haven't been sympathetic to this; indeed, judging by the times that I receive PMs from them, (i.e. at any and every hour of the day and night), they must spend a great deal of time on this site, and clearly don't quite understand how someone else could be less active. Instead of showing even slight understanding, they have near-bullied me. Ironically, it should be mentioned that these members make plenty of small, insignificant mistakes in their own submissions. Is this a reason to reject them? Of course not, just as I don't reject others for this reason. The hypocrisy is quite palpable. Once I've retired, Gislef should take over as editor. I know him to be an extremely active contributor, and so no doubt he will do an excellent job. Since taking over the guide from kennyjs at the beginning of series 2, I have had a brilliant time and worked with brilliant people. I'll still be around now and then, and I still have a fair few other guides that I'm editor of, but let's be frank: I've not exactly been 'active' as of late, so chances are not much will change :P. Guys and gals, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I! Islander

So, this Sunday, 23rd November 2008, marks the 45th anniversary of Doctor Who. Hooray! On this day, back in 1963, William Hartnell first stepped out of the TARDIS, and I bet he didn't come close to imagining the sheer scale of the British institution that he was starting. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have the opportunity to immerse myself in the Whoniverse for the next 25-odd years ( :P ), and even then I somehow never got around to watching until I was in my late teens. Of course I knew all about the Daleks, for one through having watched that film – the name evades me – with the Robomen, a mine shaft and a large bomb set to detonate in so many rels, that ITV seemed only too keen to repeat a few times each year. It was good, but not amazing, and in all honesty it somewhat put me off hunting down the old episodes. However, in 2003 the BBC announced that they planned to create a new series, and, even having let 'Classic Who' slide past me, I was genuinely excited! The 26th March 2005 came, and there we were, plunged right into the episode Rose (I still remember Graham Norton's less-than-dulcet tones intruding for the first few moments… grr…), and you know what? It was fantastic! Having the honour of being editor for 'Nu Who', as it's sometimes affectionately known, I'm going to zoom through the highs and lows of this wonderful programme, in only the shallow, shallow detail that I have time for. The Eccleston-Piper Era I'm a strong believer that the Ninth Doctor is seriously underrated. Yes, David Tennant is (was :cry: ) truly amazing, but credit where credit's due, it was Christopher Eccleston that resuscitated Doctor Who, and made 'Nu Who' the success it is today. He was a dark and fairly mysterious Doctor, but I think that was a good thing. Re-watching the series now (if you haven't watched any of series one since 2005, seriously, get a copy and re-watch ASAP), it's amazing to see just how good it was. Take The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, for example. Such an incredibly clever plot, centring around Captain Jack, a Chula 'war ship', nanogenes, a truly loveable young lady called Nancy and her unfortunate 'brother' Jamie. This two-parter was a masterpiece, from our future chief Who writer Steven Moffat (oh yes, the future looks bright). We finished this series with Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways - a strong pair of episodes, that brought the series to a good close. The Tennant-Piper Era The Christmas Invasion. Now that was an interesting episode. Not the Sycorax side of the plot, which for me wasn't actually all that interesting, but Rose's reaction to the Tenth Doctor. Once she had got to grips with the new face, and we had waited another four or so months, we were introduced to New Earth, our first alien, (or not), planet. Using comedy, that fairly quickly shook off the old feel to the series, but then change is good. The highlights of series two for me were definitely The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, which thinking about it was pretty much a return to the darker form of writing. Toby's transformation into The Beast was just terrifying, but again, the plot here was excellent. Skipping hastily past Love & Monsters, the series ended with what, in my eyes, is the best finale yet: Army of Ghosts and Doomsday. No normal person watched those final scenes without tears in their eyes. The Tennant-Agyeman Era A new series, a new companion. Martha was good. Not as good as either Rose or Donna, but definitely good. Yes, there were a couple of flops in this series: The Lazarus Experiment, 42, Last of the Time Lords… alright, this wasn't the best series to date. Still, we had wonders such as Blink (again, by good old Moffat), and who can forget Utopia? Uninteresting plot as a whole, but the main sub-plot, i.e. that of Dr. Yana, was fascinating. The Tennant-Tate Era Heh, Tennant-Tate, scarily similar to Doctor-Donna… After the slight dip in greatness that was series three, series four was right back on the mark. Pre-series, the amount of time I had to spend keeping an eye on anti-Tate messages in the forum was immense, and yet by the end, Donna was considered by many as the best companion yet, even surpassing Rose. It seems fairly clear that the most common reason for this is her lack of besotted-ness for the Doctor: a good call. Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead were my favourites here (oh look, another Moffat pair…), but I'm not in the majority with that one. Change It's funny how people dislike change. Think about it: David Tennant is considered by so very many to be the best Doctor this show has ever had, but what happened just after Parting of the Ways, when we learnt of Christopher Eccleston's departure? There was an outcry, people were saying that he was their Doctor, and were genuinely upset about him leaving (I know I was). However, all was forgotten when Tennant began. Same was true with Rose to Martha, Martha to Donna, and who knows, perhaps the Tenth Doctor to the Eleventh. It is definitely sad that David Tennant is leaving, but not before he's given us three series worth of great fun. Old and New Finally, I leave you with these last few thoughts (not long to go, assuming you haven't already whizzed past me onto one of the other contributor's blog :P ). The revived Doctor Who is special for many, many reasons, but I think one of the most profound is the sheer demographic section that it appeals to. It appeals to children, teenagers and adults, it appeals to old fans and new viewers, it appeals to sci-fi junkies and those less interested in this finer genre in life. How do I know this? After each and every episode, I come back to my computer and find my moderation queue full to bursting with notes, quotes, trivia points and allusions from a tonne of different contributors. Most I don't know, but of those I do, I know that are adults who have been interested in Who since before the dinosaurs took over this world (well, seems that long ago anyway :D ), there are teens who have seen more Who than me, and there are also many users who have seen very little, but still enjoy it to the extent that they feel compelled to contribute here on TV.com. In many ways, it's magical. Doctor Who has survived very well for 45 years – here's to the next 45 years ;) Islander NB: Be sure to check out TheOldBill's tribute as well!

Well. So much for regular blogs :roll:.

I haven't been hugely, hugely active on TV.com as of late. Before December 14th that was due to work, and loads and loads of it, but after that it's down simply to my being somewhat lazy :P. 'Tis nice to have a complete break from academic work, and exams and suchlike.

You may have noticed a change in the blog banner. Nari, Rose and the Doctor have been replaced by Noah, Max (x2), Indy (x2) and Saskia. That'd be because I have just become editor for another of my beloved Australian kidult shows, 'Noah & Saskia'! 'Tis my first new editorship in a while. Having received the DVD in the post this morning (having bought it from someone in Australia via eBay - under £7 for the DVD *and* postage from Aus to the UK - bargin!), I decided that I would have a stab at the guide and, pending a purge of TV.com's cache, I'm now editor :).

The thing I like particularly about 'Noah & Saskia' is how it was produced. For those that don't know, 'Noah & Saskia' follows a pair of people (Noah, from London, and Saskia, from Australia) who meet over the internet using alter-egos (Max Hammer and Indy, respectivley). The show explores how they interact, and how they learn about the other. The cleaver bit is this: clearly the show has two groups of people: those surrounding Saskia and Max Hammer in Australia, and those surrounding Noah and Indy in the UK. These two sets were filmed completely separately from one another: the ACTF cast, filmed and edited those scenes in Australia, and CBBC cast, filmed and edited those in the UK. The two sets of cast never met, even though they interact on-screen. All collaboration was done via the internet, including sending video from one party to the other. In this way, one (excellent) show was produced by two groups on opposite sides of the world. Genius!

Anyway, enough about that. I hope everyone that reads this had an enjoyable Christmas, and have a very Happy New Year!

Islander

Hello, Just thought I'd let people know that, for the moment, I'm without the internet. This is 'cause I've just moved into a new term-time house for Uni, and despite my trying to encourage my fellow housemates to get it set up before we arrived, they declined, so we now have to wait. All things going well, we should be up and running by the end of this week / beginning of next, but you never know... In the meantime, I'm a) piking internet off the University (where I am right now, with a great big sign in front of me saying "These facilities are to be used for academic purposes only"), and b) piking internet off a friend of mine, whoes group were intelligent, and have their all set up already. I knew I should have lived with them... :P Anywho, that is why my activity has been low recently, and it will continue to be low-ish for a short while. For this reason, it may take me a little longer than usual to get to any subs you send me, and for that, I appologise. Hope everyone's well ;) Islander Edit: To cap it all off, my laptop seems to have just died spectacularly, so even when we do get internet at my house, there's no guarentee that it'll work...

Just a quickie blog, before it's too late: My favourite physics lecturer from University (well, joint favourite - mustn't forget Stevenson) is Jim Al-Khalili. He taught me Space, Time and Relativity (a very Who subject :P), and taught it well - so well, that it was in his module that I got my highest mark in exams. By far. Now, the jammy lecturer has grabbed himself his own three-part documentry on BBC4, called Atom. It starts this Thursday, on BBC4 at 9pm. He's even managed to get a whole page in RadioTimes dedicated to it - that's fame for you :P Now, I've been taught by this man, and I can tell you that he can teach. He's won awards to say that he can teach. I therefore urge you, if you are at all interested in the subject (and are able to do so) to watch this documentry - it looks like it'll be fab! For those that aren't convinced, click the picture to see the trail: . (see, he even looks like a possible Who villian. What more could you want?) Catch you later, Islander

Yes. Oh yes. Finally, they have arrived. The mowing Stepton housewives are coming to take us all away. About time too! (click the image to see the video!) We've had, well, a very, very decent set of idents for BBC One. Up until now. Now, my friends, now we have an excellent, excellent set of idents! Truely! Crop Circles reminds me of floating hedges, from Channel 4 - that's a superb ident. And now BBC One has one equally, no, even more amazing. I'm quite chuffed. So chuffed am I, in fact, that I encourage all my non-British blog readers to see the video above, and tell me what you think - how do our idents compare to yours? (This is my gloaty side forcing it's way out - I appologise :P) That's all for now - except to say that I'm slowly being sucked into Wikipedia... ...oh, and Jekyll is amazing. "The thing about comsuming your alter-ego, a bit like a Chinese, is that a minute later, you're hungry again". And of course: "I've got digital rewind! It's like Sky+ in here!" Bye ;)

Last night, around 7pm, I discovered the Intergalactic Kitchen guide. It contained one episode without a title, date, summary, anything, and one main star. That's it - absolutely nothing else at all. I started contributing, adding episode summaries and a show summary, and by around 11pm, I was editor. Four hours, new editorship. Not bad, eh? :P Nice little programme, was I.K. Shame it was only shown once, and never repeated. Hmm. In other news, I have recently been sorting out my collection of Jeopardy programmes, and in fact many, many others. Kudos must go to Steamy for that who, months and months and months ago sent me advice on how to do it - finally I'm using it :)! That's about it, really - been rediculously busy. I thought Summer Hollidays were supposed to be restful! :P

Yesterday I finished watching the 26th and last episode of Cybergirl. Flippin' hell, that was a good show. Anyway, I thought to myself "Hmm, that was your most recent DVD import from good old Australia. Good old Australian kidult stuff. Hmm. I NEED MORE!!!". So, I started trying to remember what other shows I had watched recently, not so recently, and downright years ago that I quite enjoyed, and would like to see again. It was then that I stumbled across a rather nice site that listed a huge, huge number of Australian shows. I filtered it, and ended up with a list of shows that I had loved. And then I almost fainted. The list was 20 programmes long! 20! I watch too much TV :roll: Anyway's, this be the list: • Blue Water High • Chuck Finn • Cybergirl • Don't Blame the Koalas • Escape From Jupiter • The Genie From Down Under • Halfway Across The Galaxy and Turn Left • Legacy of the Silver Shadow • Noah & Saskia • Ocean Ocean Odyssey • Ocean Star • Out There • Pirate Islands • Return To Jupiter • Round The Twist • The Sleepover Club • Snobs • The Wayne Manifesto • Wicked Science • Worst Best Friends Out of those, my favourite by a long stretch would have to be Ocean Odyssey. Probably my favourite programme ever, to be honest. There were also a few others that I had heard of, but never watched: • H2O - Just Add Water • Parallax • Pig's Breakfast • Scooter: Secret Agent • Thunderstone Just Add Water, Scooter and Thunderstone are Jonathan M. Shiff productions - if you've read my blogs, you'll understand ;). In the end, I decided to buy Parallax, Escape from Jupiter, and Series 2 of Blue Water High. Parallax was shown on CBBC a few years back, and I really, really wanted to see it, but it was on digital, and I didn't have digital in those days :(. Escape from Jupiter was broadcast in 1994 - I only very vaguely remember watching it, but there are a few scenes from it stuck in my mind - I'm desparate to see what it was actually like. S1 of Blue Water High was shown on Shake (while it was actually amazing) a few years back, and I enjoyed it, but S2 hasn't been shown in the UK, so I'm curious. Don't get me wrong, there's some amazing, amazing UK kids stuff (Aquila springs heavily to mind, as does the Demon Headmaster), but other than these one or two cases, in general it just doesn't compare to the Australian stuff. They know what they're doing ;) Just before I go, a quick picture: [spoiler] This is after the End of Year show, by the Lake on campus. Basically, the whole Uni goes crazy for the whole night, and tries to kill themselves in a variety of different ways. Great fun for St. John! I do like Hi-Viz, though... [/spoiler] Islander out/

So, I was sitting down this evening, feeling bored, when, without any input from anyone at all, I thought "Hmmm, do you intend to do a blog on the new BBC idents, Islander? I just know you like that kinda thing...". Of course Islander tends to think in the third person, yes he does... :roll: So, without further ado, I give you Space and Forest: Wooooooooo! Well, woo anyway. Something that is also new are these silly "let's mix the closing credits with an advert and a now/next/later list, just to be ultra-irritating, and then to be uber-irritating let's do so across all our channels" boards. Hmph. Don't like them :roll:. I would comment on the last episode of Doctor Who in this blog, but there isn't room. Seriously, there isn't. Well, perhaps I'll say this: (Steamy, don't click!) [spoiler] No, that's not what I was going to say, as Steamy has nothing to do with this episode :roll:. Though I now feel like I'm blogging in a decidedly steam-less bubble, what with telling him not to look and everything, so I could say what I like... ...instead I'll just stick my tounge out at him :P Anywho, where was I... POOR CHANTHO! She has to be the most loveable insect there's ever been, and he had to go kill her. Meanie. [/spoiler]
Something else I'll blog about is my friendly Cyber Replicant Human Prototype 6000. See, those of you *coughmattcough* who might find this programme interesting, but are in the UK, will probably be thinking "hang on, how does he know about this? I haven't seen it air here". Well, it hasn't, but lovely Umbrella Entertainment of Aussie made a DVD (well, four. Well, four and a lizard) containing all 26 episodes. So, what I am doing is this: I watch an episode, then create it's guide and fill it up*. Kinda like giving birth to a baby each episode you watch, and then fattening that baby up. Anyway, to get back to the point, one quote I took down really struck me - it made me draw a huge parallel between Rhyss from Cybergirl and the Demon Headmaster from, well, guess. It was this quote:

Rhyss: At last, Cybergirl, just the two of us. Hospitals are such difficult places to get out of, aren't they. You've been having second thought's about my offer? Cybergirl: No way. Rhyss: You should, you know. You and I are bound to join forces sooner or later. Cybergirl: You and me? Rhyss: ...because, we are supirior beings. Equal to one another, but way above everyone else. With your cyber powers and my own genius, we could rule the world. Cybergirl: But, I don't want to rule the world. Rhyss: Change it, then. What is it now? Chaotic, untidy, disorganised. But you, you are such precision, you work and think like a perfectly tuned machine. Wouldn't you like to see an entire civilisation just as perfect? Cybergirl: If I was perfect I wouldn't be here. I'm being hunted down because I was a mistake! But, I like the way I am, and I want to live in River City, just the way it is.

Anyone who's watched The Demon Headmaster should be able to pick out the exact line I'm talking about. Couple more things before I wrap this blog up: firstly, a small prod at a little adolescent boy who lives, I believe, in Poole (though my memory is failing me...). Thou who thinks that my spelling is poor. Thou who picks me up on it every other sentance. Yes, you know who you are - I have my monkeys on their way to sort you out ;). Second, my second installment of "This is My Life", namely a picture. Here you go: [spoiler] There you go. The lighting box (lampy booth / crows nest / place of 1001 names) of the Students' Union. One of them's me, and I'll kill anyone who gets it wrong. Bear in mind that a) I'm introverted (so would I wear a hat?), b) I don't drink, and c), I was controlling that night, when some jumped up crew member came and tried to take over. Grr. It's nice to know security ;). As for the black, well, we have to wear black clothes. Oh, you mean the face? Well, black face paint, clearly :roll: [/spoiler]
Well, I think that about wraps it up. Ciao! Islander out/ * - you may notice that this blog is rather - punfull. It is at this asterixed (shush, Matt...) point that I thought "Whoah, I'm on fire!", and started typing at twice the pace. Not quite sure what's up with me tonight... Note to Steamy: You might want to steer clear of the comments until you watch Utopia ;)

Well. After the last blog, it seems lots of people barely know I exist. Evidently I'm just some non-corporeal entity who is evil and moderates the Doctor Who forum and guides. So I thought (as I now and then do), "Islander, let's change this. Let's make people well aware of your existance, and your life. And let's start that by making a pretty little sub-blog-banner-thingy". So, here I am, about to attempt *gulp* to keep a moderatly regular blog going. We'll see how long that lasts... :roll: Before you read any further in this blog, or any subsequent blogs, I must warn you: I sometimes sound like Marvin. 'Tis all. Where to begin, where to begin. Sunday was slightly fun. Went off to Farnham (lovely little place) to learn how to use an AED - Automated External Defibrillator. I really enjoy learning things like that - it's nice to think that maybe some day the time I put in will save a life. My thinking gets quite deep here - I tend to argue with myself whether I want to save a life 'cause it's good, or whether I don't because wanting to save a life suggests I want a life to be in danger in the first place. Hmm. Regardless, I'm now a qualified zapper :D Before people ask, no, I'm not training to be a paramedic/doctor/any medical thingy. I'm a First Aider - St. John Volunteer to be precise. Might also be a First Responder soon, too, hence the AED training. It'd be interesting to see whether anyone else here is a Johnnie.. Finally. Young Master Pitt's blog has given me an idea. Here I am constantly asking him when we'll see a picture of him, and yet here I am staying very much in the shadows. Well, I think I need something regular in my blog, so how's this: each blog post will include a picture of me! Horray! Here's the first: [spoiler] My entire St. John LINKS division, at our last AGM. Guess which one I am :P Oh, and it would appear that those same bees attacked us that night - 'twas rather grim, if I remember correctly. Quite painful :roll: [/spoiler] Islander out/