The Wheel
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Saturday, 14 October 2023
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
After last week's complete deadzone, this week is fairly chockablock with newcomers, including several titles weeks ahead of their official release date. It was meant to be even more chockablock, but a long-awaited package from Australia is waiting even longer (I thought it would make it through customs, etc, in time for today, but it looks like it'll be tomorrow or Monday), and another distributor's so-called shipping of my package didn't actually include handing it over to Royal Mail. Can't deliver it within 48 hours if they don't get given it for 96 hours, can they? That will also now be in next week's tally, which — depending on the vagaries of pre-release shipping and postal services — could wind up with twice as many new titles as this week.
Number of titles in collection: 3,167 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,022 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,145 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 298 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 7,737 [up 11]
Number of films: 3,891 [up 11]
Number of additional cuts: 344 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 9,621 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,085 [up 6]
See you next week, faithful reader.
After last week's complete deadzone, this week is fairly chockablock with newcomers, including several titles weeks ahead of their official release date. It was meant to be even more chockablock, but a long-awaited package from Australia is waiting even longer (I thought it would make it through customs, etc, in time for today, but it looks like it'll be tomorrow or Monday), and another distributor's so-called shipping of my package didn't actually include handing it over to Royal Mail. Can't deliver it within 48 hours if they don't get given it for 96 hours, can they? That will also now be in next week's tally, which — depending on the vagaries of pre-release shipping and postal services — could wind up with twice as many new titles as this week.
Number of titles in collection: 3,167 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,022 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,145 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 298 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 7,737 [up 11]
Number of films: 3,891 [up 11]
Number of additional cuts: 344 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 9,621 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,085 [up 6]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 13 October 2023
Audio Drama / Podcasts
Doctor Who: Redacted
2x06 Redemption [season finale]
Weirdly, this episode makes a big thing out of a "the Doctor is missing from the universe" subplot, then ends with a tease for next month's first special, The Star Beast. I say that's weird because I don't recall the Doctor going missing being a plot point in the last few Jodie episodes (indeed, her final one is set largely in the present day, working with UNIT), so you might think the Doctor being missing is something to setup the specials, but the trailers for those suggest this 'cliffhanger' is teasing something quite early in Special 1. So... what? Unless "the Doctor has been missing for some time" is part of the specials' story, I guess. Well, we'll find out next month!
[Listen to it (again) on BBC Sounds.]
2x06 Redemption [season finale]
Weirdly, this episode makes a big thing out of a "the Doctor is missing from the universe" subplot, then ends with a tease for next month's first special, The Star Beast. I say that's weird because I don't recall the Doctor going missing being a plot point in the last few Jodie episodes (indeed, her final one is set largely in the present day, working with UNIT), so you might think the Doctor being missing is something to setup the specials, but the trailers for those suggest this 'cliffhanger' is teasing something quite early in Special 1. So... what? Unless "the Doctor has been missing for some time" is part of the specials' story, I guess. Well, we'll find out next month!
[Listen to it (again) on BBC Sounds.]
Radio
Doctor Who @ 60: A Musical Celebration
Recorded last month and scheduled for broadcast this coming Sunday, the BBC unexpectedly released this full two-hour concert on BBC Sounds yesterday. It contains a couple of themes from upcoming episodes, which they shared on social media. It's all a bit odd (why drop it randomly several days early? Surely no one was going to leak something like this?), but here it is.
[Listen to it (again) on BBC Sounds.]
Recorded last month and scheduled for broadcast this coming Sunday, the BBC unexpectedly released this full two-hour concert on BBC Sounds yesterday. It contains a couple of themes from upcoming episodes, which they shared on social media. It's all a bit odd (why drop it randomly several days early? Surely no one was going to leak something like this?), but here it is.
[Listen to it (again) on BBC Sounds.]
Thursday, 12 October 2023
Fiction
Doctor Who: The New Adventures
Timewyrm: Genesys by John Peel
Chapters 2–8
In which we are (re)introduced to Ace by her waking up in bed naked, with no memories, so she has to do things like take a long look at herself in the mirror. Straight away, the NAs are living down to their slightly sordid reputation. On the bright side, at least author John Peel stops his description of her body at “muscular” rather than indulging in any more fan fantasy. Although later we meet a thirteen-year-old priestess-cum-prostitute who spends all her time topless, so, y'know, give with one hand 'n' all that...
Timewyrm: Genesys by John Peel
Chapters 2–8
In which we are (re)introduced to Ace by her waking up in bed naked, with no memories, so she has to do things like take a long look at herself in the mirror. Straight away, the NAs are living down to their slightly sordid reputation. On the bright side, at least author John Peel stops his description of her body at “muscular” rather than indulging in any more fan fantasy. Although later we meet a thirteen-year-old priestess-cum-prostitute who spends all her time topless, so, y'know, give with one hand 'n' all that...
Wednesday, 11 October 2023
Fiction
Doctor Who: Something Borrowed by Richelle Mead
Chapters 1–6 [the end]
Heading rapidly towards the end of the classic era in my Doctor Who 60th marathon, now. Indeed, you could argue this is the end, because for my Seventh Doctor main text I've chosen something that came after the final episode from 1989 (see: further down this very post). Of course, a counter-argument would be the classic era doesn't actually end until 2005, just before the start of Rose. Anyway, that's really a discussion for another day: here, we're still with the Sixth Doctor, for the next story from the 11/12/13 Doctors, 11/12/13 Stories series.
Doctor Who: The New Adventures
Timewyrm: Genesys by John Peel
Preface + Foreword
Prologue + Chapter 1
For the Seventh Doctor portion of my Doctor Who 60th anniversary marathon, we're heading into the Wilderness Years. After it became apparent that the series was done on TV (at least for the time being), Virgin acquired the rights to publish a series of novels continuing the adventures of the Doctor and Ace. The New Adventures are practically an era unto themselves — a run of books that took the series in new directions (violence, sex, and swearing, as well as genuinely adult ideas), introduced enduring characters (Professor Bernice Summerfield remains a Big Finish favourite to this day), and even stories (Human Nature was later adapted for TV).
When I first got into Doctor Who, they sort of 'were' it (arguably alongside the DWM comic strip; although the TV Movie was on the horizon, which caused its own changes). I read a couple of them back in the day, but they were already very well established at that point — it felt like too many to catch up on in full, especially as I was probably a bit young for them. A year or two ago I went on a bit of a spending spree and bought up a bunch of those that are supposed to be the best (I ended up with 23. Buying the entire series still feels like a ridiculous expenditure — there are 61 novels in all — especially as some of the later ones were subjected to short print runs and so go for hundreds of pounds). My purchases included the linked quartet of novels that opened the range, of which this is the very first. Yes, for the Seventh Doctor I'm reading a book that's "part one of four". I have no idea how well it stands alone (let's find out!), but I may well be looping back round to read books 2 to 4 later (after I've finished off my 60th marathon, of course).
Chapters 1–6 [the end]
Heading rapidly towards the end of the classic era in my Doctor Who 60th marathon, now. Indeed, you could argue this is the end, because for my Seventh Doctor main text I've chosen something that came after the final episode from 1989 (see: further down this very post). Of course, a counter-argument would be the classic era doesn't actually end until 2005, just before the start of Rose. Anyway, that's really a discussion for another day: here, we're still with the Sixth Doctor, for the next story from the 11/12/13 Doctors, 11/12/13 Stories series.
Doctor Who: The New Adventures
Timewyrm: Genesys by John Peel
Preface + Foreword
Prologue + Chapter 1
For the Seventh Doctor portion of my Doctor Who 60th anniversary marathon, we're heading into the Wilderness Years. After it became apparent that the series was done on TV (at least for the time being), Virgin acquired the rights to publish a series of novels continuing the adventures of the Doctor and Ace. The New Adventures are practically an era unto themselves — a run of books that took the series in new directions (violence, sex, and swearing, as well as genuinely adult ideas), introduced enduring characters (Professor Bernice Summerfield remains a Big Finish favourite to this day), and even stories (Human Nature was later adapted for TV).
When I first got into Doctor Who, they sort of 'were' it (arguably alongside the DWM comic strip; although the TV Movie was on the horizon, which caused its own changes). I read a couple of them back in the day, but they were already very well established at that point — it felt like too many to catch up on in full, especially as I was probably a bit young for them. A year or two ago I went on a bit of a spending spree and bought up a bunch of those that are supposed to be the best (I ended up with 23. Buying the entire series still feels like a ridiculous expenditure — there are 61 novels in all — especially as some of the later ones were subjected to short print runs and so go for hundreds of pounds). My purchases included the linked quartet of novels that opened the range, of which this is the very first. Yes, for the Seventh Doctor I'm reading a book that's "part one of four". I have no idea how well it stands alone (let's find out!), but I may well be looping back round to read books 2 to 4 later (after I've finished off my 60th marathon, of course).
Tuesday, 10 October 2023
TV
Behind the Sofa
22x05 Timelash
I've not watched one of these before, so for those who don't know: it's a series on the Doctor Who Blu-rays where stars of the show from across the classic era (and very occasionally the new one) sit down and watch episodes and commentate on them, Gogglebox style. They've done them for every season of the show so far released on Blu-ray, meaning it's a fairly long-running series in its own right now (as there have been 14 box sets so far). Therefore how one numbers the series' seasons is, I suppose, a point of debate — I've gone with the season of Who it's about, but as this was the 11th box set released, you could argue this is season 11 of Behind the Sofa. (I say "point of debate" — obviously only nitpicky people like me care about such things.) One day I intend to watch all the episodes — after watching the serial in question would've made sense, but I've just not found time for it before now. It's certainly quite fun.
Doctor Who
22x11 Timelash Part Two
Well, this story really does live down to its poor reputation.
22x05 Timelash
I've not watched one of these before, so for those who don't know: it's a series on the Doctor Who Blu-rays where stars of the show from across the classic era (and very occasionally the new one) sit down and watch episodes and commentate on them, Gogglebox style. They've done them for every season of the show so far released on Blu-ray, meaning it's a fairly long-running series in its own right now (as there have been 14 box sets so far). Therefore how one numbers the series' seasons is, I suppose, a point of debate — I've gone with the season of Who it's about, but as this was the 11th box set released, you could argue this is season 11 of Behind the Sofa. (I say "point of debate" — obviously only nitpicky people like me care about such things.) One day I intend to watch all the episodes — after watching the serial in question would've made sense, but I've just not found time for it before now. It's certainly quite fun.
Doctor Who
22x11 Timelash Part Two
Well, this story really does live down to its poor reputation.
Monday, 9 October 2023
TV
Doctor Who
22x10 Timelash Part One
My Doctor Who 60th marathon move on to the Sixth Doctor now, with the only one of his TV stories I haven't seen. Is one of the worst-regarded stories in Who history (in DWM's "Mighty 200" poll, it came 199th out of 200; in their 50th anniversary poll, it came 238th out of 241) appropriate for an anniversary celebration? Eh, why not — taking the rough with the smooth 'n' all that.
22x10 Timelash Part One
My Doctor Who 60th marathon move on to the Sixth Doctor now, with the only one of his TV stories I haven't seen. Is one of the worst-regarded stories in Who history (in DWM's "Mighty 200" poll, it came 199th out of 200; in their 50th anniversary poll, it came 238th out of 241) appropriate for an anniversary celebration? Eh, why not — taking the rough with the smooth 'n' all that.
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